Always Black
by Gandalf3213
Summary: Little stories between Fang and Iggy, eventually evolving intio something more. Kind of slash, FangIggy
1. Running Away

**I don't own Maximum Ride. sigh**

_What is a friend? A single soul in two bodies_ _Aristotle _

**Italics are flashbacks. Everything else taked place right after the Flock leaves Anne.**

Iggy was lost. He strained his ears, knowing that the flock couldn't be very far away. There it was ― breathing. He went towards it, still concentrating hard.

"Ouch!" Fang let out the scream before he thought about it. It been another long, trying day in a whole series of long, trying days. Now they were searching through a maze of caves to find someplace to crash.

Fang spun around, his mouth open in a snarl. He saw a very surprised Iggy. "Sorry, Fang―" the boy began.

"Why don't you watch where you're going!" Fang growled. He immediately regretted his words as Iggy's expressive face showed hurt before flashing to anger.

"What did you say?" The pale boy's voice was quiet. He'd be willing to accept an apology if Fang admitted he'd been having a bad day.

Fang refused to back down. "You heard me. Watch your step next time!"

Iggy's face contorted into a grimace of rage. He launched himself at Fang getting him a little lower then he meant to but still managing to knock Fang down. Iggy took advantage of his position as best he could, knowing Fang could rip him to pieces. He got one punch in before the positions were reversed.

A single blow from Fang gave Iggy a broken nose. The next one gave him a black eye. Forgetting the reason why he wanted to fight in the first place, Iggy brought up his hands to protect his sightless eyes. Blows rained down on his arms.

"What are you doing?" Max snarled, hauling Fang off of Igyg and shoving her face in front of his.

"He started it!" Fang said lamely, wiping blood off his face. A long scratch by his eye wasn't deep but was bleeding profusely.

Max rounded on Iggy. "Is that true?" she demanded. He had definitely taken the worst of the beating with a split lip and the beginnings of a beautiful black eye.

"Yeah." Iggy said, barely able to talk through the blood. He headed down the passageway out of the cave.

Fang started after him but Max pinned him against a wall. "What happened?" she demanded.

Fang didn't say anything. A wave of guilt washed over him as he realized how unfair he'd been. "I...uh...He ran into me. I guess he couldn't hear anything. I went off on him." He paused. "I might have made fun of him being blind.

The look of disappointment Max gave him was so strong that Fang looked away. "I know, I was being stupid."

Max shook her head. Fang was always the most helpful to Iggy merely by ignoring the fact that he was blind. Being the same height helped too, and Iggy would often put a hand on Fang's shoulder. Fang had even been his protector at (the real) school.

_Iggy had been cornered twice while at school by a group of kids who thought it would be fun (and easy) to jump a blind kid. They were wrong._

_Iggy would have taken them easily. Kids were nothing compared to an Eraser. But eight on one are bad odds any why you stack them. One got a lucky punch in and Iggy was down._

_That's when Fang walked by, looking for Iggy. He saw his friend on the ground, still fighting but obviously out of it. Anger so strong washed through him and the result was eight nearly dead teenagers, one confused Iggy, and a furious Max._

Iggy always moved with Fang. The Gasman was his best friend but Fang was his protector, his eyes in a way. For Fang to be mad at Iggy was a huge blow.

"Look," Fang cast around for a solution to this mess. "I'll find him. Talk to him. Tell him I didn't mean what I said."

"You better mean it." Max warned. "Iggy's a walking lie detector."

Because he paid such close attention to the rise and fall of a voice Iggy was able to perceive a lie with stunning accuracy.

Fang took in a deep breath, then tried smiling. "I'll get him, don't worry."

Max just shook her head.

_Fang gave Iggy a hard squeeze on the upper arm. It was the first day. The first class they had ever taken. _

_The teacher's reaction to Iggy was about as bad as possible. First she looked surprise, then pitying. She spoke to Iggy in a voice one would use with a child. Fang saw Iggy's face harden. This wouldn't be pretty._

_They were supposed to be creating a compound by chemically bonding three elements. There were ten to choose from. Fand wished Iggy was _his_ partner._

_Iggy knew what to do before they even started. This was so simple. His partner was writing out the procedures while Igg oriented himself with the chemicals. A stink bomb would show them to treat him differently._

_He tapped the table twice, just loud enough for Fang to hear. It meant "get the hell out". Then Iggy dropped the bomb._

Fang found Iggy flying slowly just outside the cave. He half-heartedly started flying away, but stopped and started sinking as though he had a pain in his wing. Fang caught up to him, slowing his descent as Iggy sank to the ground. "Hey, is it bad?"

Iggy revolved on the spot and Fang was surprised to find a long, half-healed gash on his left wing, surprisingly pink against the white wing. "Don't worry, it's old." Iggy sighed. "From school. A couple of kids punched me on the back a few times a day. Just once or twice, then they'd run off. One of them had a knife. I think he only meant to tear my shirt but he also nicked my wing.

Fang's mouth fell open. "Iggy, this isn't a nick. It looks like you've been mauled by an Eraser or something!"

Iggy's brows furrowed. "Really?"

Fang sighed and wiped his hand through his hair. "It's been like this all this time? It's been hurting while you fly?"

"Only a little." Iggy assured him seriously. "I'd never let anything get in the way of flying."

Fang rested a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Listen man, about before. I was out of line."

Iggy turned his face back to Fang. "It's okay. I just kind of freaked out. I haven't been thinking straight lately."

"I'm really sorry." Fang cut him off. "It's not like any of it's your fault."

Iggy brought his hand up to his useless yees, wiping them subconsciously. "Doesn't matter."

_The principal had called Iggy and Fang down to his office. "So, I hear you two made a stink bomb." The boys remained silent. Iggy's hand was tapping on the arm of the chair. Fang tried to look like he couldn't care less._

"_Will you look at me!" The principal snapped. Fang jerked his head up in time to see the principal jerk Iggy's chin up so he was looking into his sightless eyes._

_The principal looked away, disgusted. "They'll let any riff-raff in here now."_

_Iggy's face displayed a new layer of pain and embarrassment. Fang's hands tightened on his chair as he imagined hitting the man. Iggy, sensing Fang's feeling, touched his wrist and shook his head in a barely perceptible "no"._

"_So I guess you made the stink bomb." The principal said, gesturing to Fang. He was about to nod. What did it matter anyway? When Iggy opened his mouth. "No, I did that." He said politely._

_The principal barked out a laugh. "Yeah, right. I bet you couldn't even find the door without help."_

"_I could." Iggy said quietly, hot tears squeezing out of his sightless eyes._

_The principal his him sharply across the face. A coward's punch that came with no warning. Iggy's face registered first surprise, then pain before turning resolutely neutral. Fang seethed, his olive complexion turning red as he saw blood drip down Iggy's cheek from a ring on the principal's hand._

It was dark now. Fank shivered, relizing the two of them had walked deeper into the forest. "We should get going." He said quietly. Iggy shook his head.

"Not yet. Please. I can't face Max yet." Fang nodded, almost smacked himself when he remembered, then said. "Yeah, okay. There's a clearing up here, but we don't have our packs or anything."

"I'll make a fire." Iggy was already picking up sticks. He walked slowly around the clearing until he got every fallen branch. He put them in a pile.

"Ig." Fang said suddenly, before he lost his nerve. "What do you see?"

Iggy looked bemused. "I don't see anything, Fang."

"No." He was about to smack himself again. "I mean, do you always see white, or pink, or black..."

"It's black." Iggy said quietly, arranging the sticks by touch before he took a match out. "Always black." He paused. "It's not at all like closing your eyes. No light ever gets in." he lit the pile, smiling a little as it immediately caught and grew. "I miss light."

_Fang was annoyed. He was also tired and sick. Iggy would not stop fidgeting. "Stop!" he said for the hundredth time, moving as far away as he could in the cramped cage. The seven-year olds shared one small cage. Max shared with Nudge. The littlest one, the boy, got his own but it was smaller then the rest._

"_Will you settle down!" Fang hissed, trying not to draw attention to them. The whitecoats had just dropped him back off and all he wanted to do was sleep for ever._

"_Are you okay Fang, did they hurt you?" Iggy's brilliant blue eyes inspected Fang closely. _

"_No, they took me on a picnic. Of course they hurt me." Fang didn't want to remember. Why was Iggy so worried anyway._

"_Oh. Okay. But you're alright, aren't you. I mean, as alright as always. It's hard, I know." He was babbling. Fang covered his head. Iggy was almost as bad as Nudge._

_A whitecoat came over, unlocked their crate. "Come here, you." He grabbed Iggy, who immediately went limp. They'd stopped fighting a while ago._

_Fang curled up, glad to finally get some rest. "I hope they do something really bad to him." He muttered darkly. _

_Hours later Iggy was deposited back into the cage. "Such a disappointment...don't know what went wrong..."_

_Fang sat up straight. "Ig." He gently rubbed the pale boy's shoulder. "Iggy, what happened."_

_Iggy blinked and opened his eyes. Fang gasped. The beautiful blue was gone, replaced with a foggy blue-white color. _

"_Fang." Iggy sounded terrified. "Fang, I can't see." He started screaming. "I can't see anything!"_

Morning came. Fang blinked up at the sun. He was careful not to move too much. Iggy's head rested on his stomach. The younger boy looked peaceful as he slept, though the bruises and blood made Fang wince. He regretfully shook Iggy awake.

"What's up?" he asked groggily, sitting bolt upright.

Fang smiled. "Another day, get up and face it."

_Iggy was crying. Fang looked over at him. It was his watch. He carefully picked his way through the Flock, kneeling down next to his brother. "Hey, Ig, what's the matter?"_

_Iggy's head turned in his direction. "Nothing, Fang. Just..." a tear leaked out, then another. "They were my family, Fang. And they wanted to make me into a Freak."_

"_Not like they needed much help with that." Fang saw this was definitely the wrong thing to say. He backpedaled. "Forget them, Iggy. They're nothing. They're the ones missing out, not you."_

_Iggy sniffled again. "It wasn't just the wings. Did you know there's a way to read if you're blind? And they kept trying to help me like I couldn't do anything myself. And that stupid name. I wanted to scream , "I'm not James! I'm Iggy!"_

_Fang, in a very un-Fang gesture, wrapped his arms around Iggy. "It's okay, Iggy. You're okay now."_

_Iggy smiled, leaning away from the hug. "I know, Fang. I have you."_

**_I love Iggy. I love Fang. _**

**_Review?_**


	2. The Zoo

**I don't own it.**

**A/N: I decided that this isn't a one-shot after all. It's more like a five-shot. So, enjoy.**

"Max?" Angel pleaded. Iggy could imagine her eyes, huge and trusting.

"No way. Not happening." Max's reply was typical, but it was losing strength. Iggy knew what was happening. In about a minute they'd be landing. They were already slowing down.

"Please?" Nudge chimed in now. Fang sighed. The older kids had a natural aversion to public places. The younger ones adored them.

"Fine!" Max huffed, and they started their descent. Now that they were closer, Iggy could hear the screeches and honks of the animals. He shuddered, thinking of landing in a lion's cage by mistake.

The Flock landed behind the elephant enclosure on the far end of the zoo. They folded their wings in neatly and waited as Max talked. "Everyone stay in pairs. We're leaving in, like, an hour. We're still on the run. Don't go running off. At the first sign of Erasers, U and A."

They all nodded. Iggy wondered if anyone was as tense as he was. He could hear what sounded like a very large Eraser being mauled by another equally large Eraser. Nudge had told him that it was called an elephant.

Fang brushed against him. "You're with me." He said quietly, "Gassy took off with Nudge. He said something about hippos."

Iggy shrugged. It didn't mean very much to him. He fell into step next to Fang as they walked through a few small crowds. "Umm...Fang? Where are we going?"

He could hear the smile in his voice when Fang said. "Penguins." Iggy nodded again, as if that made sense.

They stopped in front of a small enclosure. He could hear chirps and whistles coming from inside. Iggy knew that penguins were birds but hadn't a clue what they looked like. He hadn't seen any in the School. They stood there for countless minutes. Iggy finally had a small, unfinished map in his head. The enclosure was open-air, with rocks and water. There were about ten penguins.

"Fang?" he asked after a few minutes. "What do penguins, ummm...look like?"

He could feel surprise radiate off Fang and blushed slightly. He knew he sounded stupid. What fourteen-year-old didn't know what a penguin looked like? The truth was he had no idea what _anything_ looked like if he couldn't touch it or didn't see it at the School when he had had sight.

"Umm...they look kind of like hawks. These ones are about the same size. Most of their body is black, but their beaks are orange and their stomachs are white. Their wings don't extend out. They can't fly. And their feathers are different. Denser. Wetter."

Iggy worked it out in his mind, painting a picture. "They seem cute. Can they swim?"

"Yeah." Fang was walking away from the enclosure. Iggy ran to catch up. "You want to see the lions?" Fang asked. Iggy shrugged. Why not?

A roar in front of Iggy made him jump. "Please tell me that thing's in a cage." Iggy pleaded, his head moving back and forth.

"Everything's in a cage." Fang explained, then added. "Except peacocks."

"What are peacocks?" Iggy asked.

He heard Fang sigh. "They're birds too, but not like penguins. They have long purple necks that stick up from their round bodies and on their backs they have lots of colourful feathers."

"Can they fly?" Iggy asked curiously.

Fang shrugged. "No idea."

They were in front of the lion now. "I know what they look like." Iggy assured Fang. "There was one at the School, remember?"

Fang blanched, though Iggy couldn't see it. He just heard the steel in his voice when he said. "I try to block out most of those memories."

_A small cat was deposited in a cage directly across from Iggy's and Fang's . They looked at it curiously. There had never been animals in the School before. _

"_It says it's a lie-on." Iggy said, pointing at the card on the door. "Mixed with human." _

"_I don't see any human." Fang said quietly, his black hair obstructing Iggy's view. The head of the lion was facing away from them, so all they could see was the back of its mane. It stretched, extending not paws but human hands. The face turned towards them, making both boys gasp._

_A girl's face looked back at them, looking neither scared nor excited. It blinked at them sleepily before changing position and falling back to sleep._

They walked into the snake house. Iggy shivered as they walked through the door. The room wasn't very large and it was about ten degrees colder then outside.

Fang saw Iggy's expression. "Want to leave?" he asked quietly. Iggy shook his head. It was quieter in here. The echoes told his that the room was long and narrow, like a hallway. There were panes of glass, like many windows. Very few people were in here.

They walked up to one of the panes of glass. Iggy guessed there was a snake behind it.

"Remember snakes?" Fang said quietly. Iggy nodded, shaking slightly. He would never forget what a snake looked like. There had been snakes at the school.

_They were thrown into a small room. Iggy landed on top of Max, Fang was thrown next to him. Nudge, the smallest, landed on top of Fang._

"_What is this?" Nudge asked, getting up quickly. The four of them went back to back. "I don't see anything in here. Is this a test?"_

"_I don't know, sweetie." Max tried to keep her voice calm but the six-year-old was scared. She glanced at Fang who also shrugged. _

_Iggy saw them first. "Watch out!" he yelled, throwing himself on top of a long something. He had no idea what the thing was. It looked like a worm. He hit it on the head, feeling a sharp tooth pierce his skin. "Ouch!" he cried, pain shooting up his arm._

"_Iggy!" Fang was next to him. Before he could do anything Iggy's hand shot out, punching another something. "Snakes!" Max cried, jumping in the air. "I hate snakes!"_

_Fang didn't ask how she knew these things were called snakes. One was squeezing his leg so hard he thought it would come off. "Come on!" Fang said, bending down and tugging on Iggy's arm. With a heave Fang launched himself into the air, bringing Iggy with him._

_His six-year-old wings couldn't get him very high, but it was high enough to get away from the snakes. Iggy brought out his wings, too. His eyes were closed. Fang could see that his arm was turning a greenish colour._

_Max was next to him. Nudge had a hard time getting off the ground. The three-year-old had small, chicken-like wings, but they held her far enough off the ground that the snakes couldn't bite her. She even snarled at one meanly. _

A sound from behind them made both boys turn around. Nudge ran into the room and started pulling Iggy to the exit calling to Fang. "Come on, we got to get out of here, now!"

"Erasers?" Iggy asked, running just behing Nudge, hand skimming her shirt.

"No," Nudge replied, launching herself into the air. "Gassy."

It turned out that Gassy had let out the zebras. And the hippos. And the polar bears. Oh yeah, the alligators and gazzels too. Iggy figured the zoo would be down about four gazzels by morning.

Max was furious. "What the heck were you thinking!" she screamed as they headed west, away from the screams still coming from the zoo.

The Gasman shrugged, looking down. "They looked kind of like us, back at the school. Like, sad and scared. Angel said they didn't like being there, so I let them out."

Max screamed and shot further ahead. Iggy could hear her cursing, though he doubted anyone else could. He felt Fang beside him and turned his head in the right direction. "Hey."

"Hey." Fang replied. Inside, the darker boy was fighting against something he couldn't control. Why did he always act so stupid around Iggy? "Sorry the zoo was such a bummer."

Iggy shrugged. "It wasn't really. You're good at describing stuff. I kind of got the picture." he paused. "I wish I could have ridden a polar bear."

Fang laughed. He did this so rarely that Iggy jumped, if it was possible to jump while flying. "You don't want to ride a polar bear."

"Why not?" Iggy asked innocently, making Fang laugh harder.

**Review, please.**


	3. Sight

**A/N: This part is a 'what if' from Maximum Ride 3 when they're back at the school and are told they've never gone through the past four years. What if it was seven years?**

Fang blinked at the ceiling, letting it come into focus. His wrist, which was tied to the small cot he was on, curled into a fist. The last seven years hadn't happened? All the later stuff at the School, all the stuff they did when they escaped. New York, Anne, school, Itex, Disney, kissing Max. None of it had happened? And what was that thing with Angel? Fang decided not to think about _that_ at the moment.

To his left was Iggy, who seemed to be out of it. His face was a mess of black and blue in the shape of a boot print. Rage boiled inside of Fang as he thought of his friends getting hurt. He was so stupid to go off with Max like that! They could have helped, they could have avoided capture.

To his right was Max, she was turning to _her_ right, trying to calm down Gassy, who was crying. They'd been captured _and_ his sister was a traitor. Yeah, Fang thought that was a good enough reason to cry. Beyond Iggy was Nudge. She was crying too.

Fang heard Iggy stir next to him. He turned to his friend, "Hey, Ig." There were so many things he wanted to say. _I'm sorry for leaving you... about Angel..._but he didn't think any of it would come out right.

Iggy turned to him but didn't open his eyes. "Hey Fang." His voice was quiet and calm, as if he was paying no attention to their surroundings. "How'd it go with Max?"

Fang shrugged. "Same old. I'll tell you about it sometime."

That made Iggy open his eyes, and scream.

Everyone turned to him. "What's wrong, Iggy?" Max asked, concerned. Fang wanted to put out a hand to calm his friend, then realized something. "Oh my God. Iggy, your eyes!"

Iggy's eyes had returned to the stunning blue that Fang remembered from when they were children. Iggy was crying, looking straight at Fang. "Geeze Fang, you got big."

Fang smiled. To his right, he heard a whoop from Gazzy. "You can see, Ig? You really can?"

Iggy craned his neck and smiled at the Gasman. "Hey Gasser. Last time I saw you, you were still in diapers." He smiled wryly. "Haven't changed much, have you?"

Max was wary. "You sure you're seeing, Iggy?" Fang knew what she was worried about. If Iggy really _could_ see, then the last seven years really hadn't happened. On the one hand, one of their best friends had his sight back, on the other their entire past was fake. Thus is the life of a bird-kid.

"Yeah, yeah, I really can!" Iggy was so excited, he looked over at Max. "You're real pretty, Max. Changed a lot in seven years."

"It happens." Max said quickly, affording a small smile. "But, just a quick test, what color is my shirt?"

"Blue?" Iggy guessed. Max shook her head 'no'. Iggy shrugged. "That's not a good test. I can't remember colors. Give me a sec, let me think."

He stared hard at the shirt, racking his brain. It wasn't red, he remembered red. Red had been his favorite color. He smiled, remembering. "Green. God, it's pretty. That's green."

Fang smiled. "I could kiss you right now, Ig."

Iggy blanched, smiling. "I really hope you don't. Things are weird enough."

They were quiet for a minute as Iggy looked around, marveling. "This is so...wow...I can't even describe how awesome this is...and you guys see this all the time?"

Fang turned his head so Iggy wouldn't see him. This was a stroke of good luck...great luck...they'd never imagined that Iggy would be able to see again. Even Iggy had given up ages ago. But still...it'd be so different. He'd never noticed colors and people before Iggy made him describe them all.

"I wonder what Angel looks like." Iggy said quietly. "I've never seen her."

Fang turned to him in awe. "Oh yeah. I forgot. She's real cute, man. You'll be proud." Or he would be, if she wasn't a traitor. He pushed the thought out of his head again.

The door opened. Fang tensed as Ari came in. Iggy hissed at him.

"Hey bozo, see you've got your eyes back." Ari said lightly. "That's awesome, it'll be better when you die. You'll get to see it."

Nudge snapped at him meanly and Max growled, "What d you want, Ari?"

Ari laughed. "You."

"Well you're not getting her!" Fang yelled, struggling against his bonds. If Ari touched her...hurt her...he'd never forgive himself.

Ari laughed again. "Come on, we're going for a walk."

Max was strapped into a heavy metal wheelchair. Fang felt a pang as he watched her leave. Before the door was shut, Iggy called. "Nice to see you got uglier as you got older. Kind of makes more sense now."

Ari snapped at him before the door shut.

Iggy turned to Fang. "You really look nice, Fang." He continued staring at him, then smiled. "In my mind, I always imagined you as a rather tall seven-year-old with that messy hair and cowlick you used to have."

Fang laughed softly, wishing again he could reach out to Iggy. "I'm real glad you got your sight back before..." he cut off, looking over at Nudge and the Gasman, hoping they didn't hear him. No reason to make them more worried. Iggy got him though, and nodded sadly.

On the way through the hallways, Max was piecing the puzzle together. They must have gone through the last seven years. There was one thing that tipped her off to this.

She saw Total, blubbering like anything, on a lab table.

The moment she realized this, she told Ari, "So, I guess you're better from that brush at Itex."

Ari growled. "That wasn't a fair fight."

And then Max knew for sure, and the dream they'd been put through was over.

When Max was wheeled back into the room with the rest of the Flock, she found both Nudge and Gassy asleep, probably out of pure exhaustion. Fang was talking in a low voice to Iggy, who was crying quietly.

"What..?" Max asked before Iggy looked up at her. His eyes were a milky blue-white again. Max gasped. "Oh, Ig, I'm sorry. I saw Total, see, and guessed that we really did go through the last seven years and that what we were experiencing then was a dream. You must have just been dreaming you could see again."

Fang was still talking to Iggy in a low voice, but Iggy's own voice cut through his. "It was a good dream."

**Very different, I know, but review anyway.**


	4. Feelings

**I own it not.**

Iggy shuffled next to Fang, the small room smelling dusty, making him want to sneeze. Instead he reached out a tentative hand, putting it on Fang's shoulder, making him jump. "You okay?"

Fang sighed and looked away. "No, not really." They both kept their voices low. The Gasman was sleeping five feet away, feet curled up under him, his dirty face streaked with sweat and tears. He needed a bath.

"Is it Max?" Iggy knew that Fang often worried about their leader, heck, Iggy was worrying about her too. This was the first time the group had been split up willingly since Angel was born.

"Partly." Fang admitted, "It's just…why'd you stay with me, Ig?"

The question had come out of nowhere, and suddenly Iggy was presented with a challenge. He contemplated his answer before saying, "Well, it's just…you always take the time to explain things to me, I mean," he suddenly blushed, the redness making his pale cheeks light up in the darkened room, "You make it seem real to me."

Fang nodded, a movement that Iggy sensed even if he couldn't see it. He liked this part of Fang, the quiet part. Max was loud, always banging and storming, messing up his balance of thoughts, a sudden bolt in his comfortable quiet oasis. Fang was quieter, and yet his words seemed to mean so much more.

And there was that feeling he'd been getting lately, the swooping, falling feeling he got whenever Fang brushed against him. He couldn't figure that one out yet, but it felt right. He'd never felt that before. Only with Fang.

"And I wanted to stay with Gasser of course." Iggy said, smiling in the direction of the slumbering boy. Fang nodded again, shivering. "You cold?" Iggy asked. Without waiting for an answer he drew himself closer to the boy, wrapping his wing around his side, enveloping them both in the musty scent of flying.

_It was so cold._

_Fang didn't know how long they'd been in this room. Ten minutes? Two hours? He couldn't control his shivering. Next to him, Iggy was shaking too._

"_You know that Max is probably in that hot room." Iggy said, his teeth chattering. "With Nudge for company."_

_Fang smiled ruefully and wrapped his black wing around the pale boy. "Remember last time we were in that room? You took all your clothes off."_

"_So did you." Iggy retorted. He couldn't see it, but his hands were blue, much bluer than Fang's. Fang frowned and took Iggy's hands in his, blowing on them to warm them up. "Anyway, I think that room is for cooking us, you know, roast bird? Ouch!" Iggy jerked his hands away. Fang had begun rubbing them, making them feel like blocks of wood being sanded._

_Fang sighed, resting his head on Iggy's. The ten-year-old wasn't stupid. He knew that if they fell asleep in here they would die. He'd seen it happen. "What's four plus two?" Fang asked lazily._

_Iggy bit his lip. Before he had gone blind he'd use his fingers, now he had virtual fingers in his mind. "Seven? No, it's six."_

_The math problems kept coming, the boys managed to stay awake for thirty-seven hours. That was the coldest they'd ever been._

"You can tell me, you know." Iggy said into the darkness. Fang grunted. "You know what I mean. Max always tells you her plans, or at least uses you as a sounding board. You're new at being leader, tell me what you want to do next."

"I…" Fang paused, turning the words over in his mouth. "I want to get the word out about us, about the School, about how vile it is."

Iggy rolled his useless eyes. "Yes, I _know_. I mean, how do you propose doing it? The magazine clearly didn't work. I think," Iggy continued, saying the words in a rush, "That we should, like, take over a radio station. Just for an hour or two. We tell everyone our life story. It's not that hard. I could do it from here."

Fang paused and looked over at the taller boy. He knew that Iggy could do it, he was a wizard at that kind of stuff. He also supposed he had an inkling _why_ Iggy wanted to do it that way. Iggy was the only one of them, except Angel, who couldn't write without a keyboard, which was something he rarely let anyone use. If they had put anything in the magazine, Iggy would have helped, of course, but not with the writing of the article. By doing it on the air, he'd be able to participate more.

And the idea actually made sense. He'd get out to a larger crowd, especially if they could somehow broadcast it to the entire nation or the world.

"How 'bout." Fang said slowly. "How about we do something like that on the blog. It could be our story, everything from _before _we left the school. You could do it, Ig. Out of all of us you're the best public speaker." Fang didn't mention that he though Iggy had a great voice, a little higher than his own, but a lot smoother, a lot surer.

_The first time they'd ever heard a voice that wasn't a whitecoat's, it had come from over a loudspeaker. Iggy was the first to notice and he'd told everyone else. _

_It was a kid's television program, something about science and a guy names Bill. Anyway, the Flock had all listened to it, even one-year-old Angel, as if it were the best thing in the world._

_That's when Iggy decided he wanted to get out of there. There was something outside the School, something much bigger than the helpless children that died all around him, something even bigger than the Flock._

_For almost an hour the program ran, uninterrupted. No one spoke, hardly anyone moved. It was the most beautiful sound any of them had ever heard. _

_It was right after that that Max announced they were breaking out of the School. That radio program had changed their lives._

Iggy was suddenly aware of Fang sleeping under his wing. Smiling slightly, he laid his own tall frame just to the left of Fang, near enough to feel his breath on his face. His wing was still outstretched, still protecting their temporary leader.

He would take the first watch. He's take all the watches that night. He had to think about this strange feeling, the thing that reared up inside his chest and made him feel like he was flying even though his feet were firmly planted on the ground.

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	5. Lost

**I own them not.**

Iggy was lost.

The noise of the crowd pressed in on him from all sides. He was suffocating in the thick blanket of noise, his head pulsating with the beat emanating from the huge speakers on either side of the stage. He was being jostled by hundreds of people. Fang and Gassy had been here, right?

Or was it just to the left? Next to that one big tree? Or maybe they had wandered to the middle, to become invisible.

Minutes passed in a frenzy of noise and moving bodies. Iggy didn't know where he was going anymore. Where was he? He had started near the edge of the crowd of bodies. How had he ended up in the middle?

Hot tears stung his sightless eyes as half an hour passed. His head was hurting from the sound, his sensitive ears ringing. He wanted to sit down. He wanted the noise to stop. He just needed a second to get his bearings...just a second.

Where was everything? He had never been to New York before. He had no landmarks, knew no sounds, had no idea how to find the rest of the Flock short of taking flight again, which was starting to seem more and more like a reasonable option.

It was the last song now. He used to like the Taylor Twins, they were "big" and yet always seemed like a garage band with songs about real stuff. Well, real for normal people, like girls and parents and stuff. Not the white-coat induced fear that Iggy and the others were living with.

Now Iggy knew he would never listen to another song by them again without hyperventilating, like he was doing right now.

God, where were the others? They had eyes, didn't they? How come they hadn't found him? Maybe Max hadn't noticed he was missing, but Fang, the Gasman...

Somebody was speaking now, their voice magnified so many hundreds of times. Iggy had to fight from clamping his hands over his ears. What was wrong with quiet? Couldn't people be just a little bit softer?

Out of desperation to get away from the horrible speakers, Iggy found a tree and climbed it as quickly as he could. He ended up clinging to the branch, his body shaking as the man's voice boomed over the huge crowd. Somewhere in that crowd was Max and Fang and everyone else. There were a lot of people, though.

Feeling as if he were all alone, Iggy climbed higher into the tree. His sleeve snagged on a branch and he jerked it free to violently, earning himself a deep gash. As if his night couldn't get any worse.

It wasn't like he was at all used to so much sound at once. He had spent the first ten years of his life in a cage. After that they had moved to the quietest part of Colorado. So much noise at once made him feel like his head was splitting open.

He placed his backpack carefully on the top branch and settled into the arms of the long tree. He would wait. The others would find him they wouldn't leave him. Not again.

_Iggy__ felt like dying. Smoke filled his lungs and he started coughing. Where was the Gasman? He had to find him. He was in charge of him. _

_"__Iggy__!"__Gazzy__ was suddenly right beside him, tugging his arm, pulling him away from the blaze. __"__Iggy__, move!__ Please, __Ig__!" _

_It took longer than normal to get his legs to react to what his brain was saying. He finally let the Gasman pull him out of their burning house, forced himself to open his wings and sail away from the enormous blaze that had engulfed the place that had been their home._

_Iggy__ didn't know where they were going. He had no plan. They were slowly leaving familiar territory behind them, and __Iggy__ became more lost with each stroke of his wings. They flew for an hour before the Gasman spoke. "We have to find the others."_

_Resentment boiled inside __Iggy__, "They ditched us, Gasser, they thought we couldn't keep up and they tossed us away like old luggage. They won't be happy to get us back."_

_The Gasman was careful to touch __Iggy's__ wings with his own on each down stroke. "I know, but where else can we go. __You kind of stick out, __Ig__."_

_Iggy__ bit his lip. He was still so angry at Fang and Max and Nudge for leaving them behind. He didn't want to fly to them like they couldn't take care of themselves. Finally, __Iggy__ forced himself to remember Angel, remember that she was __Gassy's_real_ sister, that he was worried about her. "Fine, let's go. I hope you memorized the map, 'cause there's no other way we're getting there."_

After the loudness of the speakers the noise of the crowd felt like a pleasant buzzing in his ears. He heard as the crowd left, most of them going away from the tree where he was safely hidden behind a thick canopy of new leaves. Even so, he didn't dare unfurl his cramped wings.

One voice was suddenly right below him. "Ig?"

"Fang?" Iggy was so relieved to hear a familiar voice that he nearly shouted the word. "Oh, Fang, I didn't know what else to do, I tried to find you guys but you weren't _anywhere_." He didn't realize that he was crying until a tears dripped onto his hand.

"Hey, it's okay." Fang sounded slightly alarmed and he scaled the tree easily, sitting beside the taller boy. "It's my fault, really. I thought you were with the Gasman, the Gasman thought I was with you, bad communication." Iggy could hear the smile at the end, he didn't want it.

"Can we get out of here?" Iggy pleaded, knowing that he sounded like a whining child.

The Flock was suddenly surrounding him, on different branches. "No, Iggy, it's awesome here!" Nudge said, and started explaining just why it was awesome. Her words didn't help Iggy's headache.

"Well, I hate it." Iggy said, frustrated. "When it's quiet I can tell where the heck things are. Now it's all a jumble. I couldn't find you tonight."

No one seemed to be listening to him. Fang touched his arm lightly, which made Iggy feel a lot better. At least someone heard what he said. Iggy thought that if he didn't have Fang he would be invisible, because not being able to see himself already made him feel like he was.

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